Of the Rouses whose literacy was recorded, 72.3% could both read and write, 8.5% could read but not write, and 19.1% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 76.3% reading and writing against 68.1% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.